Tony Beckham left Geoffrey Cassidy with a broken cheekbone and eye socket after having a "conversation' with the alleged peeper.

By
Jill Sederstrom

A former NFL player put his defensive skills to work Monday when he tackled a suspected Peeping Tom outside his daughter's window and broke the man's cheek and eye socket before police arrived to make the arrest.

Tony Beckham, who played for the Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans, spotted a man outside his Wellington, Florida home as he was walking out to his car around 6:40 a.m. Monday morning, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Miami Herald.

The man, who was later identified as Geoffrey Cassidy, allegedly had his hands down his pants, with his butt exposed and was "making a motion consistent with masturbating" while peering into the window at Beckham's teen daughter who had just gotten out of the shower.

"I waited for a second and I looked again," Beckham later told local station WPBF. "And I see a white male and he's standing by my window and he's trying to get a better position."

Beckham said he shouted at the man, who started to run away, but the former professional athlete quickly caught up to him and tackled him to the ground.

"I caught him at the apartment over there and we just had a good conversation," Beckham said.

When a Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy arrived, the two were still brawling.

Cassidy would later tell authorities he had been in the area because his car and broken down and said he'd been standing in the bushes because he was waiting for it to "cool down," the local paper reports. He refused to tell the deputy where his vehicle was and also was unable to provide a phone number or address.

Cassidy was arrested and taken a nearby medical facility where it was determined he had a fractured cheekbone and eye socket before being brought to the West Detention Center on charges of lewd and lascivious exhibition. He was released after posting a $1,500 bond.

Beckham told WPBF he hoped the incident made Cassidy rethink his future behavior.

"I'm sorry that it happened to me. I'm sorry that it happened to him," Beckham said. "Because he's never going to do that again on this side of town."

His wife, Amanda, said after the "scary" incident she replaced the blinds in her home with darker ones.

"I don't know if this is his first time coming here or if he's been here before or where he's seen us or how he picked us out," she said.

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